Fish
by One day I'll be a dinosaur
Summary: Diana Reid has some fish, Spencer looks after them.


Diana Reid loved her fish. Of this there was no doubt. They were called Apposition and Conjugate and at 10 years old the vision of Conjugate floating at the top of the tank hit Spencer Reid hard. He knew his Mom would spend the day in bed, if she wasn't up before him then she wasn't up at all. So he knew he would have time.

Spencer was fond of the fish, they swam around minding their own business, and he had on occasion seen them bump noses, he liked to pretend they were in love. They had been there all his life and the idea of not having them was strange. His Mom she talked to the fish, and laughed when they talked back, they'd give her recipe ideas and she'd remember to feed them even when she forgot Spencer. The death of one of them, especially after William leaving not long ago, would devastate her, and Spencer wanted her to be nothing but happy.

Fishing out the dead Black Moor, eyes staring accusingly, Spencer unceremoniously flushed the body. He had work to do. It took half an hour to bike over the a store that sold Black Moors and over an hour and half to walk back balancing a fish in a bag and his bike. He was rather proud of himself for managing to haggle down the price to fifty cents. He knew they couldn't afford to spend a whole three dollars on something as frivolous as a fish.

Conjugate the Second settled in quickly, Apposition seemed wary of the other fish at first but they soon got along swimmingly. Spencer was pleased to see that they didn't bump noses, yet worried that Apposition might fall into depression over their missing mate.

His Mom didn't notice a thing.

The day of Spencer's high school graduation was one of mixed feelings. He had offers for prestigious universities but he couldn't abandoned his Mom, he was glad to be finally free yet he had been coming here for three years, he would in some sense miss it. He knew high school was a tough time for everyone but for him it had been excruciating and he seriously doubted he would have such a feeling of elation to be leaving somewhere again.

Spencer was only there for passive aggressive reasons. He knew that when his classmates grew up they would feel guilt about the way they treated him, so seeing him in a photo with all of them together, smiling, would never let them forget the child they had tortured. He was rather proud of himself for thinking so logically. Spencer liked his revenge to be slow, subtle and long lasting.

He returned home late. His Mom hadn't turned up and Spencer had to work up the energy to going home and finding out why. Pushing open the front door and not seeing his Mom he made his way into the kitchen, there he found a mangled mess on the counter. It was bloody and stank, what ever it was that his Mom had attacked it had been with great rage. He wanted to leave the kitchen but he knew if he didn't clean it up now then it would just get worse.

As he approached the mess he heard his Mom "leave it Spencer," her voice was hard and cold, he turned to face her. She was standing still, ramrod straight, she looked like she had been crying, and there was blood spatter on her front. She took a step to Spencer and grabbed his arm and pulled him to the mess, she picked it up, examining it.

"I've had those fish for over fifteen years now Spencer, Black Moors live for ten. I always wondered who it was that was passing on information, They know everything Spencer, it had to come from the inside, we can't let Them know, They'll take you away, hurt us, we have to stay safe. I thought with your father gone we would be safe, I removed all his bugs from the house when he left. But They still knew. But now I know. The fish, Spencer, the fish, they've lived for too long, I don't know why I didn't see it before. The fish worked for Them Spencer. That's why we have to be careful, They trick you Spencer, never fall in love Spencer, be careful Spencer, you never know who is working for Them." Diana kept up her tirade while she cleaned up the mess. Spencer listened, nodding every now and again, while he emptied out the fish tank, mourning Conjugate the Second and Apposition the Third.


End file.
